The Importance Of Inclusion In The Classroom

“A good education system gives students the freedom to recognize their capabilities and individual potentials” (Markovic & Markovic, 2012). Giving students the confidence to explore their abilities and specify how they learn creates capable students who feel empowered as they have now identified the best way for them to acquire knowledge. The best way to ensure that you’ve assessed the students for their skills and abilities is to use Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences, “It suggests that the traditional notion of intelligence, based on I.Q. testing, is far too limited. Instead, Dr. Gardner proposes eight different intelligences to account for a broader range of human potential in children and adults ” (Armstrong, n.d.). This enables

Nevertheless inclusion should not be limited to having the child in the classroom but also being able to reach them and providing them with a successful educational experience. In my opinion it also means knowing when to give them your complete attention and when they have to be incorporated into the classwork. I believe that planning is a crucial step in making sure that my classroom is all-inclusive. Applying inclusion in classrooms will be best done through differentiation, providing for the different levels of knowledge and abilities for all students in the classroom regardless of the difficulties they face. “ Inclusive education is reliant on student access to curriculum. Schools must create opportunities using activities, space and materials so that all students can learn” (Eredics, 2014). I have honestly not come across classes with blatant special needs cases so I could not judge or talk about my experience. For low level students physical representation is extremely helpful so I would include manipulatives in my explanations and in their activities,. I would also resort to various types of visual aids, being able to see a frame of reference clearly at all times is key in helping them perform better. I would try my best to include all different students into activities that we perform on the daily such as classroom jobs and calendar

One important principle is that “ Development and learning proceed at varying rates from child to child, as well as at uneven rates across different areas of a child’s individual functioning” (NAEYC, 2009). As a teacher one should plan ahead for assessing students abilities and ranges of development. Then she should be ready too differentiate between students when they all accomplish tasks at different paces since no two children are the same. Teachers should also be aware that the same child will vary in their own development at different tasks. I’ve seen this in schools in way of differentiating, a method in which lessons are simplified or made more challenging based on the difficulty levels students can preform at. One of the schools we visited a teacher had one activity separated into three difficulty levels: matching word to definition, cut and paste words to definition and writing the word to the definition. The way she executed the activity is perfect for when you have three types of student abilities, I expect that is the way I’ll be doing it with my future students. Another developmentally appropriate practice that I believe is imperative to student learning and